State, Russell 1923-1946

STATE, INMAN

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 2/27/2010 at 17:25:29

The Grinnell Herald-Register (Grinnell, Iowa) Jan. 14, 1946

CPL. RUSSELL STATE IS KILLED IN ACCIDENT IN CHINA

A telegram received Saturday morning brought the sad news to Mrs. Russell State, wife of Corporal Russell State of the U.S. Marine corps, that her husband had been killed on Jan. 8 in an automobile accident in Tsingtao China, where he had been stationed since last summer with the Sixth Marine division.

Corporal State was the son of Mr. and Mrs. F.A. State of this city. His wife, the former Doris Jean Inman, has been staying with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harlan Inman in expectation of her husband's early return from the service, in which he would have spent three years next February.

Originally attached to the Marine Third division Corporal State had passed unscathed through the fighting on Guam and the bitter battle on Iwo Jima. He had been transferred to the Sixth division last summer, just before it was moved to Tsingtao. He was in line for honorable discharge as soon as transportation could be arranged and was eagerly anticipating his return to the wife and loved ones who anxiously awaited his coming. Al Frisbie, also a member of the Sixth division, had written home that the two boys had met and visited together in Tsingtao.

Russell was 22 years old. He played varsity basketball on one of the crack teams for Grinnell high school, from which he graduated in 1941, enlisting in the Marine Corps shortly after receiving his diploma. He will be remembered as a fine boy, a clean sportsman and a good Marine who did his duty unafraid.